The invention pertains to a vehicle seat, with a floor track assembly, in the passenger compartment (luggage compartment) of a vehicle.
In the case of vehicles with a passenger compartment and/or a luggage compartment, which is optionally capable of being equipped with vehicle seats in a varying number and/or sequential arrangement depending on requirements, or which is optionally capable of being switched from personnel conveyance to freight conveyance, the vehicle seat (e.g., in the form of bench seats) forms a closed (unitary) system together with its floor track assembly.
In the case of vehicle seats with a floor track assembly, it is known that one can provide at least two floor tracks which are arranged parallel to one another and which are attached to the floor of the vehicle. Such floor tracks are constructed in the form of U-shaped tracks for sliding or rolling purposes which are open at the top and in which the profile edges are retracted somewhat toward the inside so that the lateral supports of the frame of the vehicle seat are capable of being displaced longitudinally in the floor tracks by means of sliders or rollers and are capable of being arrested in selectable positions along the floor track. Arrestment usually takes place by means of wedging screws or plug-in bolts which are wedged in the U-shaped floor track or which are inserted into pre-punched holes.
A disadvantageous feature with such systems, especially in the case of personnel conveyance, is that the floor tracks, which are open at the top, have to be covered over (e.g. by means of a carpet) in order that they shall not cause passengers to stumble or that narrower shoe heels cannot get lodged in them. From a technical standpoint, covering of the floor tracks is also desired in order to avoid dirt on the running surfaces of the tracks which operate with relatively narrow guidance tolerances for the precise sliding or rolling type of guidance of the vehicle seats since, in this regard, complete freedom from play and rattling is required of the floor track attachment and one must also maintain the situation in which, despite the narrow tolerances, switching of the seat arrangement, i.e., exchanging and/or displacing the seats in the floor tracks, always has to be possible in a smooth manner.
The task of the present invention is to propose vehicle seats with a floor track assembly which, without expensive precision guidance, are nevertheless free from play and rattling and which are largely insensitive to dirt or dangers which arise from them in the event of conveying persons.
In accordance with the invention, this task is accomplished by means of the feature that the floor tracks have a T-shaped cross-sectional profile whose upper covering surface is closed and which is essentially aligned in a plane-parallel manner relative to the floor of the vehicle and that the lateral supports of the seat each have tensile anchors which preferably grip, from below, the two sides of the T-profile of the floor tracks, whereby, for the purpose of the arrestment of the vehicle seat, the lateral supports are squeezed off from the floor tracks via the tensile anchors by means of a lever mechanism in such a way that the tensile anchors are placed under tension against the underside of the T-profile of the floor tracks in a tight or firm manner.
It is initially a general advantage that the proposed T-shaped floor tracks can be constructed in a very flat manner, i.e., they require only a very small height for the assembly above the floor of the vehicle since (depending on the thickness of the material) they are gripped, from below, only by the relative flat tensile anchors of the lateral supports of the seat and the other guidance devices of the lateral supports (such as, for example, the slides or rollers) run only on the upper covering surface of the floor tracks.
The flatly constructed T-profiles of the floor tracks are merely sufficiently high in one practical form of embodiment that they do not tower above the carpet (or other floor covering) which is laid up to the floor tracks on both sides. No risk of stumbling arises from them.
The upper, closed covering surface of the T-profile also ensures that the floor tracks become less dirty and that narrower heels of shoes basically cannot get lodged in the floor tracks. Additional covering over of the floor tracks is not required.
The concept of squeezing off the lateral supports of the seat from the floor tracks (via the tensile anchors which grip the T-shaped floor tracks underneath) by means of a lever mechanism for the purpose of arresting the seat makes it possible--in every arrestment position of the seat--to achieve play-free and rattle-free attachment of the seat to the floor tracks without these having to be constructed in the form of precision guides. This considerably reduces the cost of the floor track assembly because the sliders or rollers, which run on the upper covering surface of the floor tracks, do not require exact guidance on the floor tracks solely for the purpose of displacement. A track guide which is constructed with a large tolerance is sufficient in order to displace the seats, whereby the track guide is associated with larger play and correspondingly more rattling noises but it is, and remains, correspondingly smoother for this purpose. It is only in the arrested state of the seat, i.e. in the state which is used for the conveyance of persons, that the attachment of the seat has to be play-free and rattle-free. This is ensured in the case of the seat in accordance with the invention and its floor track assembly.
The aforementioned large tolerances, which permit the guidance of the seats by the tracks without malfunctions arising in the seat assembly and/or while switching the seat arrangements, also have the advantage that the new system can follow, in an improved manner, the unevenness of the floor of the vehicle to which the floor tracks are attached.
The lever mechanism for squeezing off the lateral supports from the floor tracks in the desired arrestment position via the tensile anchors in each case is preferably carried out as follows in the manner described below.
A running roller is provided in the front region of the lateral supports in each case, whereby the running roller rolls along the covering surface of the T-profile of the floor track on displacing the seat and whereby the lever mechanism is provided by the lateral support itself, which is raised in the rear region on displacing the seat of the vehicle, as a result of which the front region of the lateral support is supported exclusively on the front roller and it is pressed down via its rear region for the purpose of arrestment of the vehicle seat, as a result of which a wedging component, which is attached to the lateral support and which is positioned in the vicinity of the front running roller between the lateral support and the floor track, is firmly wedged against the upper covering surface of the T-profile of the floor track. Such a lever mechanism has a very large leverage so that one obtains a very high wedging force from the wedging component against the floor track. The wedging force is taken up by the tensile anchor in each case which grips the T-profile of the floor track underneath.
The pressed down rear part of the lateral support is arrested via the T-profile by means of a releasable arrestment hook. Such direct arrestment of the rear part of the lateral support on the floor track is possible since arrestment occurs only in the arrestment state of the seat and, in its arrestment state, the seat is no longer displaced on the floor track.
In the case of the aforementioned form of embodiment of the invention, on the other hand, the rear part of the lateral supports (i.e. the rear part of the seat) must be manually supported in the raised state during displacement on the floor track since, in this form of embodiment, the rear region of the lateral supports does not have any rollers or sliding components etc.
A further improved form of embodiment of the invention provides the situation in which the rear regions of the lateral supports each have a rolling or sliding carriage that supports this region of the lateral supports both in the raised state and in the pressed down state. For this purpose, a rod-type supporting frame or a spring with compressed gas which is capable of expanding, can be arranged e.g., between the rolling or sliding carriage and the rear region of the lateral supports, whereby, the rear part of the lateral support is supported on this frame or spring in the raised state.
In the pressed down state, the rear region of the lateral supports has to be arrested via the rolling and sliding carriage in a manner which is resistant to tensile and compressive forces. In order that this can constantly take place in a functionally reliable manner, the provision is made that the rolling or sliding carriage is connected to the rear region of the lateral support by means of a guiding lever in such a way that, on pressing down the rear region of the lateral support, a pressure component of the guiding lever travels under a pressure bearing on the carriage and pushes the carriage upward from the floor track so that the assigned tensile anchor(s) is/are placed under tension against the underside of the T-profile of the floor track.